There’s a country song by written by Pat Alger and Ralph Murphy, sung by Kathy Mettea, that I’ve always been drawn to. The chorus of Seeds speaks volumes starting with “We’re all just seeds in God’s hands. We start the same, but where we land is sometimes fertile soil and sometimes sand.” The thing is, many plants grow very well in the sand. It’s a matter of adding a bit of organic matter.

Volunteer Oak

Unlike people or animals with more freedom to seek out ideal places to live, plants rely on transport systems that evolved rather magically to find their way to where they can root and thrive. This time of year, after a walk with Ellie, I marvel and frustrate over how many burrs stick to her fur. These burrs are seeds designed to fall off their fuzzy or feathered hosts as they move along. The abundance of seeds inside fleshy fruits that grow from flowers such as beans, cucumbers, peppers, squash, tomatoes, juniper, apples, and cherry are eaten by critters and then (ahem) they make their way out the other end and are still viable to sprout. Then there’re nut seeds such as acorns, walnuts and hickory that critters store for future meals and forget about them; hence the nuts become next year’s saplings.

It’s fascinating that ants have a role in dispersing seeds with plants such as trillium and bloodroot which have fleshy structures that provide food. Ants bring them back to their abodes and the inedible parts either germinate within the nest or where ants discard them.

Of course, seeds are dispersed by wind. There’s maple trees (Acer) with their winged seeds and milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) along with dandelion (Taraxacum) with seeds attached to fuzzy thingies. I have a wonderful memory of dear Mom mischievously blowing dandelion seeds in defiance of those that consider these golden lawn guests a weed. You can eat all parts of a dandelion after all. They’re packed with nutrition, more so than kale and spinach, and the greens taste like arugula; another reason to forgo chemicals on your lawn.

There’s a trend for folks to send saliva samples for DNA testing to find their ancestry. Turns out we are all very much alike. I suppose the health history of ancestry may be useful, but where we are rooted now is what matters. The most important – being rooted in the spirit of love.

“We’re all just seeds in God’s hands”… it’s all about love…

Happy Thanksgiving

Garden Dilemmas? Askmarystone@gmail.com

About the Author

Mary Stone, owner of Stone Associates Landscape Design & Consulting.
As a Landscape Designer, I am grateful for the joy of helping others beautify their surroundings which often leads to sharing encouragement and life experiences. These relationships inspired my weekly column published in THE PRESS, 'Garden Dilemmas? Ask Mary', began in 2012.
I dream of growing the evolving community of readers into an interactive forum to share encouragement and support in Garden and Personal Recoveries -
seeking nature’s inspirations, stimulating growth, weeding undesirables, embracing the unexpected. Thank you for visiting! Mary

As a designer, I am grateful for the joy of helping others beautify their surroundings which often leads to sharing encouragement and life experiences; the inspiration for my column and now blog. It's more than about gardens... it’s about learning and growing as we share Dilemmas, Delights & Discoveries in the garden of life…

Thank you for dropping by,
Mary

Subscribe to our Blog!

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.